Just finished watching the last of the ‘Wallander’ series on BBC 1. It is the best thing I have seen for a long time- and makes me proud of the old beeb. Scripting, casting and photography all at its finest. Each shot a masterpiece of film making.
And the theme music by Emily Barker– simply lovely…
We are just back from Strachur, where Emily has joined the Lochgoilhead Fiddle Workshop sessions.
It is a whole new thing for her- the move towards learning traditional music by ear, not by reading notation. It is exciting to see her playing moving forward, and being linked into lots of new possibilities. She is also starting to play mandolin.
It is a big change for the family too- it is a 35 minute drive, and a hole in our week. But worth it I hope.
Music is so important to most of us. It is the backdrop to life, the carrier of culture and emotion- the shaper of memory. It is also a way of bringing us together and allowing us to communicate using a deeper, older kind of language.
May music find its way into your life, and your community this next week…
Whilst Emily played, I went off into the woods above Strachur. I combination of coniferous plantations along with some standard planting done by the Victorian landowners. I put up a lot of deer, and waded through all sorts of bog. There are few footpaths- just the firebreaks, and the tread of the deer along the edges of streams. It was warm today- and the dusk is lengthening the day.
Of course, I took the camera. The old Kirk in Stachur was a starting point…
Brian McLaren has been posting excerpts from his forthcoming book on his blog. Some of them have been really juicy morsels. You never know whether this will be like a preview of a film, with all the good bits already out there before you see the real thing, but in McLaren’s case, I doubt it. I am looking forward to reading this one, as I think it will be an important book.
Today the issue he touches on is community- and he even coins a new phrase to suggest the call of Jesus on how we collectivise our lives and hopes- how we learn together. I kind of like it. We so need to find new ways to understand how we do community…
This inward transformation, of course, requires community, an expanding network of connectivity that perhaps could be captured by a term like “ortho-affinity” – a good and right way of relating to one another in communities of faith and in relation to those outside our faith communities (including those who consider themselves our enemies). (29)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
Just back form a lovely evening with our friends Susan and Steven.
A night of laughing, eating, drinking wine and sharing life
Oh- and singing.
The guitars came out, and we exchanged songs.
Susan has a lovely voice and sang this song- which I had not heard before. Here it is, in thanks. (I love Cara Dillon’s singing, but I think Susan did it even better!)
Pat has been sounding off again.
Alistair pointed me in the way of this-
Oh dear.
The scary thing is that millions of Americans take what Robertson says seriously.
When Marx called religion the ‘opium of the people’ he perhaps had in mind drug dealers like Pat.
Haiti lives in the shadow of its colonial past. Check out the brief historical summary here. It has not just that America has been a poor neighbour, but you could say a rather devilish one.
Incidentally, the slave revolt that ejected the French happened before Napoleon III of France was born!
Robertson brings shame to Christians with his ludicrous pronouncements.
He does not speak for me. Nor, I suspect, for Jesus.
I have heard lots of talk about corruption, as the worlds press is full of appeals for money and aid. Lest this slow down our willingness to open our wallets- can I suggest checking out OXFAM–
In the wake of the terrible events in Haiti- the thousands who lie dead under the weight of the buildings that were shaken down by a cataclysmic ‘act of God’- many of us may ask this question-
How could a loving, allpowerful God allow these things to happen?
It is a question as old at least as Job.
I have no easy answers, but spent some time digging into this issue before- see here , here, here and here .
I liked a lot of what Tom Honey had to say here-
I was listening to the radio this afternoon in my office whilst tidying up some papers, and was captivated by this programme–
The compelling true story of two sisters, Annie and Carolyn Moore, who died in the mass suicide at Jonestown in Guyana on November 18th 1978. Over 900 people died that day, followers of Peoples Temple and its leader, Jim Jones. This documentary drama is one family’s experience of Peoples Temple, which began with the highest ideals. It’s told through the actual letters between Carolyn & Annie and their parents back home.
This told the story of Jim Jones and his People’s Temple church right to the bitter end- from the unique perspective of insiders- people who kept faith in Jones right to the very end. Two women who were in leadership positions in Jonestown, and whose parents even seemed supportive of their involvment.
What was fascinating is a kind of insight that emerges as to how people would be prepared to follow this man- prepared to put their faith in him- to believe in the world he created, and be even be prepared to die at his suggestion…
Attempts to make sense of what happened at Jonestown have tended to paint Jones as something other than human. He is seen as evil personified, able to cast a mystical spell over the brainwashed people he surrounded himself with. They, in turn, we tend to see as weak lambs to his slaughter.
But hearing this programme made me think that this was too easy.
There was so much about Jones that was attractive, and I could imagine how seekers after a radical spiritual way of life could be attracted to him. How I might have been interested in the way of life he offered…
Another thing I began to wonder about was the degree to which the dreadful end to the People’s Temple and Jonestown was an extreme example of a more common experience- namely the power we ascribe to leaders in religious/church contexts.
I came across this post recently, by Bill Kinnon, where he quotes from this series, which discusses the role of sociopathy in church, and in Christian leadership. I have a mental health workers suspicion of easy labels given to human patterns of behaviour- but perhaps it is worth lingering with this concept for a while…
Here are a few quotes that Bill uses-
The Sociopath is unable to develop any kind of true, loyal attachments to people. This inability to be genuinely connected to others renders their experience of life bland, colorless, boring, and tedious. Consequently, they turn to power, not love and relationship, as the primary motivational factor for their lives. The sociopath seeks to gain power through which she can find some sense of connection to humanity by causing the suffering of others. The more she is able to make another suffer or hurt, the greater her sense of personal power, and the more exciting and invigorating life becomes. (Dr Martha) Stout says that the motivation for self aggrandized power is so strong in the sociopath that many of them work hard to place themselves in leadership positions because the authority of an office or position gives the sociopath the tools and avenues she needs to both feed and fuel her mental illness.
It is stunning the extent to which Christians forgo what they know to be true, pure, and right when they get to sit across the table from a powerful and charming bishop, pastor, or seminary professor. Studies show that otherwise normal and healthy personalities will do some of the most atrocious things in their blind allegiance to an official with a title.
The suggestion made here is that around 1 in 25 people could be described as having sociopathic tendencies, and that sociopaths will tend to gravitate towards situations where they can exert power, control and manipulation. Places like church.
Gulp.
I have posted before about the phenomenon that has come to be known as church abuse. (See here and here for example.) Many of us carry hurt and scars from finding ourselves part of church situations where leadership goes badly wrong. There are of course many reasons for this, and throwing around accusations of sociopathy at our leaders is unlikely to help.
But there are wolves who come dressed as lambs. When we see a hint of tooth or claw, may we have the discernment and the courage to recognise what we see.
There are some suggestions as to what to do when you are confronted with leadership like this here.
If you are in this situation- God be with you. It can be extremely difficult.
My daughter often tells me stories about her school that make my eyebrows shoot up.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not likely to go all 1970’s and say ‘It was not like that in MY day.’ I went to an experimental community school, where all sorts of unorthodox educational theories were tested out (and some of them found wanting!) I was interested to note that the website of the school today makes no mention of it’s radical background.
I mention this, as some of Emily’s accounts of her current schooling still leave me rather puzzled and concerned. Here is a sample-
The kids were shown ‘Braveheart‘ in history- as a way of understanding Scottish-English history. Now even accepting that most of the Scottish establishment loves to have a go at all things English, to suggest that the story portrayed in this film has even a passing resemblance to history is stretching it some, wouldn’t you say? Rather like learning about the dinosaurs by watching the Flintstones.
Then there is English literature. The chosen books for were Harry Potter, and one of the Philip Pullman series. Fine romping entertainment- but literature? Give the teachers their due- some kids simply do not read any more, so starting with something easily digested is not a bad thing… but today, they began talking about Shakespeare. Like generations of kids before them, the kids suggested that Shakespeare was boring. And when they learnt he was English, they all booed. The teacher told them not to worry as they were going to study the worlds greatest ever poet, Rabbie Burns soon.
Now I am not planning to argue about who the worlds greatest poet is/was, and even though I am no great fan of Burns, I am happy to concede that he is in the mix.
But I so hope that narrow prejudice will not be reinforced in our schools, and that my kids will be enthused by teachers who have a love for beautiful inspiring words.
So, by way of my little protest- here is a little Shakespeare (from one of Hamlets hugely cynical speaches)…
What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet,
to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me—
nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.
Merciful heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarlèd oak
Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man,
Dress’d in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d—
His glassy essence—like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.
Took a lovely walk with the Mosley’s yesterday afternoon. Up into the hills and down Pucks Glen.
There had been a partial thaw, but the path was treacherous in parts.
Worth it though- for the company, the joy of seeing kids having fun in the wild, and for this-
Winter’s own towers and minarets.
A Cathedral for a while…
It has been very cold here recently- like most of the UK, it has been colder than most people can remember over the last weeks.
Dunoon is usually insulated from the deep cold that other parts of Scotland experience, because of our closeness to the sea. But last night, it was minus 7 degrees C outside our house, and the temperature has not been above freezing for weeks.
Along the shore, the rock pools have frozen over, and between the tides, the seaweed collects white frost.
We have not had the heavy snowfalls here that have been common elsewhere. Glasgow and Paisley (but a few miles away) are deep white, but we have the remains of snow, turned to ice for the most part.
Apart from in the hills that is.
So I decided to go look for some.
I wanted to find virgin snow- the high up powdery stuff that does not ball under your crampons. It has been a while since I kicked my way into this stuff.
I set off into the familiar hills above Bishops Glen- the forestry tracks giving way to fire breaks in the plantations, then out onto the open hillside.
And I found snow.
this fragile tent 